By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

THE NMI swimmers had a very productive day in the 12th FINA World Championships at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia yesterday.
Rezne Wong posted a new national age-group record in the 50m breaststroke swim, while Sarah Johnson and Cooper Graf made lifetime best swims in their respective events on Day 3 of the annual tournament.
Wong clocked 33.89 seconds in the 50m breaststroke and placed 101st out of 125 entries. He finished ahead of FSM, Samoa, American Samoa and Cook Islands swimmers. South Africa’s Cameron Van Der Burgh topped the preliminaries of the 50m breaststroke event.
In an email to the Variety, Saipan Swim Club coach Michael Stewart said that a practice last Monday helped them have a fruitful Day 3.
“I saw Rezne and Cooper were a little flat in the first two days, so I took them to the pool later on Monday for an extra workout. It really helped them,” Stewart said.
“We worked on a new underwater pullout (start) and it seemed to help Rezne greatly. I was glad to see him finally get his LTB, as well as the national age group record,” the SSC coach added.
Cooper Graf competed in the 800m freestyle and recorded a new LTBS with his time of 10:14.48. His previous mark was 11:05.32 and is only 21 seconds away from breaking the CNMI national record.
Australia’s Steven Craig had the best time in the 800m preliminaries with his 7:50.72
Stewart added that Cooper became the crowd favorite in his heat, as he was competing against swimmers 5 to 12 years older than he.
“The crowd went wild as he raced down his last 50 meters realizing his huge time drop,” Stewart said.
Not to be outdone was Johnson, who posted her third straight LTBS She recorded 2:23.42 in the 200m freestyle eclipsing her 2:29.30 mark and is two seconds shy of Nina Mosley’s national age-group record. Johnson placed 97th in the preliminaries, which
Laure Manaudou of France dominated with her 1:57.66.
Before his LTB performance in the 200m freestyle, Johnson had a great time on Day 2 last Monday, as she and the US’s Michael Phelps swam on the same warm-up pool.
“She was really surprised when Michael Phelps swam with her in the warm-up pool,” Stewart said.
After the warm up, an inspired Johnson had an outstanding swim in the 100m backstroke. She timed in at 1:19.90, breaking her previous LTBS by 7.5 seconds.
Johnson’s 50m split of 38.79 was more than five seconds faster than her LTBS in the 50m backstroke.
Cooper Graf also swam on Day two and had an LTBS in the 200m freestyle timing in at 2:22.69.
Wong recorded his second best swim in the 200m freestyle with a time of 2:12.08.
Today, Wong will be competing in the 100m freestyle and 200m individual medley. Graf is entered in the 100m freestyle, while Johnson will be joining the 50m backstroke swim.